00:00this is a moment for reimagining
00:02learning generative AI kind of jumped us
00:04forward 20 years faster there's this
00:06assumption that every student is going
00:08to use it to cheat the most power
00:10happens when the AI works with the
00:11student can teachers handle VR can
00:13teachers handle AI yeah like absolutely
00:16I have a hundred percent of teachers
00:18opting in to our program you can go to
00:20ancient Rome you could talk to Caesar
00:22you could talk to Cleopatra the kids in
00:25school today are growing up into a world
00:27that's incredibly fast paced and it's
00:30complex the Technologies here the
00:32pedagogies here the teacher training is
00:34here we just now need to put our heads
00:35down and execute the year is 2023 and so
00:40much has changed in the last 50 when it
00:42comes to technology we have smartphones
00:45that fit in our pockets we have the
00:48world's knowledge accessible to anyone
00:50with an internet connection and we even
00:52have tools now that summarize incredibly
00:54complex Concepts in the voices of our
00:57favorite fictional characters but now
01:00reflects on the state of the classroom
01:02the very Forum where we raise the Next
01:06how's that evolved in the same time
01:08period despite so many children already
01:11using these Cutting Edge Technologies
01:13like AI XR and gaming outside the
01:16classroom interestingly enough they
01:19haven't really made their way in and in
01:21this episode we explore why that is
01:23especially given the learning loss that
01:26we saw prior to and during covid and how
01:29these Technologies might actually help
01:31us radically upgrade the classroom of
01:34the future this episode was actually
01:35recorded live at the Aspen ideas
01:37Festival which I got to attend for the
01:39first time ever recently and I was
01:42joined by four unique guests we had Sal
01:45Khan founder of Khan Academy which
01:47recently unveiled conmigo an ai-powered
01:50tutor we also had an Aruba Ganguly she
01:53is the founder of prisms VR which is
01:55using VR to better teach our children
01:58Math and Science Concepts through
02:00spatial reasoning and abstraction we
02:02also had Allison Matthews head of
02:04Minecraft education who's tailoring the
02:07most popular game in the world to
02:09empower and teach young people skills
02:11like coding or even active citizenship
02:14and finally we had Romy Drucker director
02:16of the education program at the Walton
02:18Family Foundation who has a bird's eye
02:20view into the challenges and
02:22opportunities in the space honestly I
02:24wish I grew up in an era where these
02:26Technologies were at my fingertips so
02:29let's not squander this opportunity and
02:31let's dive in as a reminder the content
02:34here is for informational purposes only
02:36should not be taken as legal business
02:38tax or investment advice or be used to
02:40evaluate any investment or security and
02:42is not directed at any investors or
02:44potential investors in any a16z fund
02:47please note that a16z and its Affiliates
02:49may also maintain investments in the
02:51companies discussed in this podcast
02:53for more details including a link to our
02:55investments please see a16c.com
03:08welcome everyone welcome to classroom
03:112050. Welcome to our classroom for the
03:15I'd love to just start by getting a
03:17pulse from the room how many of you are
03:20excited about new technologies like AI
03:23XR extended reality gaming let's put
03:27your hands up who's excited great now
03:29how many of you keep your hands up and
03:31then put them down how many of you feel
03:35these technologies have successfully
03:37made it into the classroom for the
03:39better put your hand down if you don't
03:40think they've made it there keep it up I
03:42only see a few hands still up there
03:45but luckily we have some wonderful
03:47Founders today who are working on
03:49exactly that problem figuring out how we
03:51Elevate the classroom after it's been
03:54relatively stagnant quite frankly for
03:56many years and to kick things off let's
03:58really ground ourselves on where we are
04:00Romy maybe you can help us here what is
04:03the data saying in terms of the student
04:05experience what are kids really facing
04:07how can we really get a better
04:08understanding of that thank you so much
04:11Steph for being here and moderating this
04:13discussion as many of you know the
04:15pandemic was a huge setback in education
04:18and it exacerbated and widened already
04:25we know from data that came out last
04:27week that math achievement levels are
04:30the lowest they've been in this country
04:32since 1990 and literacy achievement
04:36levels are the lowest they've been since
04:382004 and the pandemic erased two decades
04:43of progress that we had made in
04:45education through a variety of different
04:49so we have a lot of work to do
04:52the good news is that students families
04:55and Educators agree that this is a
04:57moment for reimagining learning both
05:00embracing technology but also thinking
05:03about how we strengthen relationships in
05:05classrooms how we better support student
05:07well-being to address the Mental Health
05:10crisis thank you Romy and Aruba I want
05:12to move to you what will it take
05:14specifically to develop the next
05:16generation of stem Talent I know you
05:20have some data there give us a grounding
05:22there in terms of what that will really
05:23take and what we're seeing up until now
05:25absolutely I discovered that the top
05:28indicators of success in post-secondary
05:29stem is number one your ability to think
05:31spatially the Soviets at first
05:33discovered that the 1970s so if you kind
05:35of like think about a rough definition
05:36it's your ability to rotate 3D objects
05:38in your mind and maintain perspective of
05:40that object the second top indicator of
05:42success in post-secondary stem is your
05:44ability to abstract and when I say
05:46abstract I don't mean looking at word
05:48problems talking drawing diagrams and
05:50visualizations creating charts and
05:52tables and creating equations because
05:53those are all 2D representations of
05:54thought abstraction is
05:57tree and Apple Valley's like whoa how do
05:59I ascribe language notation and build
06:01mathematical models of this physical
06:03experience so I started prisms three
06:05years ago to scale these best practice
06:07methodologies how do you immerse
06:09children in problems in the first person
06:11create the intellectual need for why
06:14they have to learn something and then
06:15through building a solution to that
06:17problem learn the math and science that
06:18you need to so how does prisons work
06:21um you we we uh utilize virtual reality
06:25so students put their VR headsets on
06:27their mobile VR headsets and they're
06:28transported to a world it is my mission
06:31and commitment that when kids see math
06:32problems in in math class they should
06:34not be like that's not a real problem no
06:36one really important to actually solving
06:38it they should go I heard that in the
06:39news I know absolutely that very smart
06:41people are working on this building
06:42mathematical identities from a very
06:44young age and it's believed that I can
06:46contribute to the mathematical Sciences
06:47so that through line of going from
06:49physicality simulations data
06:51visualizations chart Staples equations
06:53is really scalable it's most of
06:55secondary math and science so we've
06:56built out all of Algebra 1 geometry
06:58middle school math Algebra 2 precalculus
07:00we'll be pushing into all of higher ed
07:02very soon I mean we we have so much to
07:04dig into there and by the way okay we
07:06didn't have a chance to call this out
07:07but we wanted you know there's many ways
07:10that people learn and instead of talking
07:12about the technologies that these
07:13wonderful Founders are building we
07:15wanted to make sure you had a glimpse
07:16into really what we're talking about
07:18here and so we've talked about different
07:19Technologies so this is a glimpse into
07:21VR one of the other Technologies
07:23entering the classroom is AI you know
07:26one of the topics of the year so why
07:28don't you talk to us about what you're
07:29building there and of course we'll also
07:31pull up you know some of the technology
07:33that you're building yeah so uh you know
07:36Khan Academy has been around a little
07:37while now and most folks associate us
07:39with videos but most of our resources
07:40have been around personalized practice
07:42I'm kind of a traditionalist and a
07:44progressive where I say well but there's
07:46also just gaps in students foundations
07:48the number of times that I've gone to
07:49like a seventh grade math classroom this
07:51was recent I was in the Bronx they're
07:53working on Khan Academy the kids were
07:54doing exponents and it was like
07:56something to the third to the seventh
07:58power so it's to the 21st power three
07:59times seven I saw an eighth grader grab
08:01a calculator for that I literally
08:02slapped their hand I don't know if
08:03you're allowed to do that but I slapped
08:05their hand I'm like what's 3 I'm seven
08:06and I saw the eighth grader start to do
08:08this and that's just a very basic
08:09example of like there's massive fluency
08:11gaps in students and just some very
08:13basic and it's causing too much
08:14cognitive load so that's where chronic
08:16Academy started is hey can we give
08:18people as much practice learn at their
08:20own time and pace you're a teacher with
08:2130 kids but there is a way that all 30
08:23kids can go at different Paces you as a
08:26teacher can understand where the kids
08:27are and the students have multiple shots
08:29at goal in order to understand those
08:31those underlying skills that's what
08:33we've been working on for for 10 plus
08:36um and I'm happy to talk more about it
08:37but we're seeing some very promising
08:38results pre-ai but then
08:42um last summer open AI reaches out to us
08:44uh this is obviously months before chat
08:46GPT and all of that and they said hey
08:48we're training our next Generation model
08:49was gpt4 for those when chat GPT came
08:54out it was based on GPT 3.5
08:57um we were I was skeptical because I had
09:00been paying attention to previous
09:02generations of these models but when we
09:05started playing with gpt4 we said this
09:06one's different this one you can
09:08actually get it to act as a tutor it
09:11still had issues around hallucinations
09:13which is when the AI just makes up facts
09:15it's still has that that is the
09:17technical term for it
09:19um it has it had issues when it came to
09:22um math which obviously you know we
09:25don't only do math but math is very
09:26close close to our heart and it's got to
09:28be accurate uh but we kept and we were
09:30worried about guard rails and what if
09:32students use it for negative things or
09:34they go into some type of weird Rabbit
09:36Hole so we said can we put guard rails
09:38around it so we started working pretty
09:40aggressively we were under NDA with open
09:42AI since last summer then chat GPT came
09:46um and we weren't going to launch our
09:47thing until the gpt4 launched in in in
09:50in March and and I remember telling Greg
09:53Brockman like hey I thought we were
09:54waiting he's like no Chachi petite is
09:55nothing new it's just a chat interface
09:57on top of GPT 3.5 and that captured
10:00everyone's imagination and it kind of
10:03um immediately put a bit of a bomb into
10:06the education system where everyone was
10:08like oh kids are going to use this to
10:10cheat write their essays and by the way
10:12it's bad at math and it makes up things
10:16I was initially bummed because like
10:18we're working on what I think is a
10:19reasonably thoughtful solution here now
10:21this thing just gets thrown out into the
10:22universe and it's just everyone's first
10:25impression is going to be AI plus
10:26education is really bad
10:28um in hindsight I actually think that
10:30was a blessing because what it did is it
10:33forced people to Grapple with some real
10:35things when we first saw gpt4 months
10:37before Chad GPU was like oh yeah people
10:38are going to be able to use this to
10:39write essays people are going to be able
10:40to use this to do colleges you know do
10:42their homework Etc how do we mitigate
10:43these these risks but the fact that chat
10:46GPT within a month or two 40 of teachers
10:49were using this very imperfect tool for
10:51themselves for things like lesson
10:52planning and students were already using
10:55it but it was it was caught it was
10:57forcing the issue on the education most
10:59of edtech is things are okay maybe we
11:03could use technology to make it better
11:04but this was like wow things just got
11:07maybe there's we need to do something to
11:11um so we launched our a our
11:13implementation which we call Khan Migo
11:15we've always tried to approximate
11:17personal tutoring uh at Khan Academy
11:19through videos and exercises but I think
11:22uh generative AI kind of jumped us
11:24forward 20 years faster than I thought
11:27um if you had asked me a year ago where
11:29it can act as a tutor and and maybe just
11:32as interestingly act as a teaching
11:33assistant to help generate lesson plans
11:35uh help refresh the teachers knowledge
11:37create rubrics etc etc and that last
11:39screen you just saw it was actually in
11:41Spanish as well it works in every major
11:42language which by itself already solves
11:45a major issue where you can be doing
11:46your work in English but get help in
11:49Brazilian Portuguese and Spanish in
11:52Vietnamese whatever language you need
11:55um it does not cheat if you ask the
11:58student if you ask conmigo hey tell me
12:00the answer it will not tell you the
12:02answer but Sam your tutor it'll act
12:04Socratic and say well what do you think
12:06is the next step we've done a bunch uh
12:08unless you all want to I Won't Go in all
12:10the details but it's substantially
12:12better I won't say perfect but
12:13substantially better at math than what
12:14you would get just out of the box uh
12:16with with gpt4 we have a second
12:19artificial intelligence well all
12:21conversations are monitorable by parents
12:22and teachers which we thought was an
12:24important guard rail and then we have a
12:26second AI that monitors the
12:27conversations Founders so far have
12:29talked about maybe how we're early on
12:31there are misconceptions misperceptions
12:33from whether it's students teachers
12:35people in school boards about welcoming
12:38this technology so I want to get into
12:39those conversations too but Allison
12:42give us a glimpse in the into the world
12:44of gaming because that is a form of
12:47technology that has immense growth as
12:50well just like Ai and extended reality
12:52but maybe isn't met with the same level
12:55of open arms so would love to hear what
12:58you're building yeah for sure Minecraft
13:00is an immersive 3D virtual space that's
13:04full filled with beautiful biomes and
13:07all kinds of animals
13:10Minecraft education we built on top of
13:14that wildly wildly popular video game a
13:18powerful teaching and learning platform
13:19by putting safety security privacy
13:22features that Educators need and parents
13:26expect on top as well as an in-game
13:30Library that's full of learning
13:32experiences from learning to code and
13:35math history literacy but all the way to
13:39learning how to be a more active citizen
13:41or learning about climate change we know
13:44and maybe you do too that video games
13:47are one of the most powerful ways to
13:50engage a person in a deeply engaging
13:53deeply immersive experience
13:56and it lights up intrinsic motivation
13:58intrinsic motivation is just that desire
14:00to to keep trying to go deeper to learn
14:05um because you love it you're having fun
14:08you have you're passionate about it
14:10amazing and Aruba I'm gonna go to you
14:12next with these misconceptions partially
14:14because anarupa is actually a previous
14:16educator herself and so tell us a little
14:19bit more about maybe the way that people
14:21view the introduction of these
14:23Technologies whether it be VR but also
14:25AI also gaming and where maybe some of
14:28those assumptions may be misplaced yeah
14:31I think a common misconception is that
14:32technology is going to replace the
14:34pedagogy and it's not
14:36pedagogies pedagogy and so what the tech
14:38will allow you to do is it will scale
14:39that so in the case of prisms you are
14:41building an elementary school building
14:42in India that creates a shaded region
14:43you're building a satellite that does
14:45XYZ and to do that thing you have to
14:48learn ratios you have to apply
14:50um a linear functions and so what what
14:52what I've learned is that instead of
14:54talking about the technology talk about
14:57and when you're focused on the learning
14:59design that whether it's a powerful AGI
15:03tool or or game design or in my case
15:06spatial Computing that is just fueling a
15:08way of teaching and learning and when
15:10you when you project it in that manner
15:11nobody pushes back like I have a hundred
15:13percent of teachers opting in to our
15:15program and that would be that that
15:18might seem like are you sure on Rupa
15:19like everyone's a little bit afraid of
15:20VR and no because I in my deck you don't
15:23see VR anywhere so that's the first
15:25thing that that I would say is a key
15:26misconception is it's not about the
15:28technology the technology Powers the
15:30learning design and the second thing
15:31that I would say was um it is then
15:33therefore incumbent upon those who are
15:35building learning solutions to over
15:36index on training teachers in the
15:39pedagogy and not the tech we focus too
15:41much time on let me teach you on about
15:43like how to utilize this Hardware no
15:46we're gonna spend 30 seconds on that
15:47because you're actually very smart and
15:49you know how to do it you just you just
15:50need to kind of have that confidence and
15:52we're gonna spend the market share of
15:53the time on lesson study intellectual
15:55preparation job embedded coaching how do
15:58you get learning outcomes so I would say
16:00kind of that's where my mind too in
16:02terms of the main misconceptions and the
16:03bow that I would tie on that is
16:06um there's been this ceiling and
16:07perception that school systems are
16:08regressive and they're somehow Contra to
16:11to progress when you show them how it's
16:13standards aligned how you teach Bell to
16:15Bell in the 50-minute instructional
16:16episode how you uh prepare for it you're
16:18not going to get any pushback it's just
16:20kind of showing them how you go from
16:21point A to point B so maybe you can
16:23comment on that you already touched on
16:24some ideas where you know there's this
16:26assumption that with AI in the classroom
16:29you know every student is going to use
16:30it to cheat they're never going to learn
16:32again because why would they right
16:33they've got this this assistant who can
16:35do it for them so maybe just speak to
16:37that directly what are you seeing in
16:39terms of maybe the reality or what can
16:41be designed to maybe construe that
16:43reality yeah I think uh Chad GPT has
16:47forced folks into one of two modes
16:50have some assignments where you just say
16:52use use whatever help you want and now I
16:55have a higher X and that's reasonable
16:57because we now use it in the workplace
16:59Etc there's another mode even you know
17:01without technology everyone said okay
17:02well I guess we're gonna have to do more
17:03in-class proctoring now things like that
17:05uh I think both of those are probably
17:09part of the mix we we think actually the
17:12most power happens when the AI works
17:13with the student so like in a couple of
17:16months we're going to be launching
17:17something that we're going to initially
17:19do it for college essays which is a
17:20whole other this is the first College
17:21admission cycle in the chat GPT era so
17:24it's going to be very interesting
17:26um but we've created activities where it
17:29can interview the student and help
17:30surface things that would make for good
17:32college essays so brainstorm with the
17:34student not for the student
17:36um a modality where you can write an
17:40um and the and then ask for feedback
17:42from the AI and not just on you know
17:44we've all seen technologies that can
17:46help with your grammar and things like
17:47that but once again not just tell you
17:49this is how to write it grammatically
17:51correct but say hey look at your verb
17:53tense again like once again act like a
17:55like a tutor but now with generative AI
17:57especially with gpt4 you can it can
17:59really go into the argument that you're
18:01making and how do you make it more
18:02emotive and how do you really make it an
18:04excellent paper and what's interesting
18:06about that is when you work with the AI
18:08and all of the interactions are logged
18:11a teacher can actually not just
18:13introspect on the final outcome they can
18:15introspect on the process so we're
18:18building a mechanism right now where the
18:20teacher can can assign through the AI
18:23hey I want everyone in my 11th grade AP
18:25American history course to write a paper
18:27on how the world would have been
18:28different if the American Revolution
18:30didn't happen I don't know something and
18:31then every student will be able to work
18:33on it with conmigo and conmigo will be
18:35like okay do you think that really backs
18:36up your argument how about this like
18:37they're they're riffing together which I
18:39think will be a better experience for a
18:41lot of students and then even while
18:42that's happening the teacher will be
18:44able to talk to me it's like okay what
18:46what what's everyone up to and says okay
18:48I've already started a you know this
18:50dude students is doing great this
18:51student seems kind of stuck this student
18:53just copied and pasted something in
18:55there I don't know where it came from we
18:57might want to double click on that maybe
18:59they're using chat GPT
19:01um and and I think then all of a sudden
19:04um you you've kind of addressed this
19:05issue where now the artificial
19:06intelligence not only do not have to
19:09worry about policing it in the same way
19:10can help students write better it can
19:12give teachers better feedback you know a
19:14lot of Mastery learning is multiple
19:16shots at goal um if if you're at a
19:18certain level 80 you should try again
19:20you should be able to writing but
19:22writing it's very hard to get feedback
19:23but now the AI can give multiple rounds
19:26and then also give the teacher first
19:28passive like you know based on the
19:29rubric we created together I'd give the
19:31student a four out of five on that
19:32Dimension a five out of five on that
19:33Dimension so I think that's probably
19:35where we're gonna go by the way this
19:37isn't crazy I did a year of Exchange in
19:40Sweden and they have a totally different
19:41grading system including you can submit
19:44an assignment and you can pass or fail
19:46and if you fail they tell you what to
19:48change they tell you how to get better
19:50so this is not like completely you know
19:52grown out of AI and and totally new
19:54these Concepts do Exist Elsewhere we've
19:56been doing that in our lab school with
19:57humans but it's more research resources
19:59yeah exactly Allison actually that
20:01dovetails perfectly into this idea that
20:03if we are introducing these Technologies
20:05what is the future of a teacher or
20:09teachers in general how does that role
20:11evolve and then also if you have time
20:13I'd love to just hear your your take on
20:14how people view gaming because that's a
20:16very interesting topic on its own so
20:20um so Minecraft education is now in 119
20:24countries and we've got millions of
20:26players every month and a big focus of
20:28the team is on connecting with Educators
20:30so we can understand what are the
20:32problems that they're trying to solve
20:34and one of them is similar to what Sal
20:35was talking about and in that in any
20:37given classroom you're going to have a
20:40full range of Readiness for whatever the
20:42course material is that's being covered
20:44and so what teachers really need is a
20:48tool that enables differentiated
20:50learning so a way that someone who
20:54totally understands the content can can
20:56take it further and someone who's who's
20:59it's new to them they haven't understood
21:01this before just start to get familiar
21:03with with the material and to your
21:05question of the role of the teacher
21:07because the game supports it's we've got
21:11scaffolded learning experiences in the
21:13game which means if you're stuck if you
21:15don't know Minecraft or if you don't
21:17really understand the lesson we've got
21:19little things built into the lessons
21:21that can help give you tips or Clues on
21:25so students can be self-directed in that
21:28way which gives frees the teacher up to
21:30actually work with the students who need
21:32more attention or to challenge the
21:35students who are racing ahead so so
21:37that's one I I wanted to point out one
21:39other thing for teachers because we've
21:42had a lot of teachers especially early
21:44on tell us okay this is the like the
21:47kids love this game why would I bring
21:49this into the classroom I'm going to
21:50lose control immediately they all
21:52understand it better than I do
21:55yes this is true and none of us as
21:59adults will ever understand Minecraft as
22:01well as the average eight-year-old this
22:04um and so what that requires is a
22:07mindset shift right the kids in school
22:10today are growing up into a world that's
22:12incredibly fast paced and it's complex
22:15so they need mindset that's going to
22:18enable them to be successful in a world
22:20that's changing rapidly so they need to
22:22build a growth mindset they need to
22:24build leadership skills collaboration
22:27communication skills and these are sort
22:30of those higher order things that can be
22:33achieved through playing a game and the
22:37teacher has the ability to generate some
22:39of these conversations in the classroom
22:41about tell me tell me why you did that
22:44in the game help me understand your
22:46thought process that made you go destroy
22:49that other students like work in the
22:51game let's let's have a conversation
22:53about digital citizenship and the fact
22:56that you know what what we do in a
22:59creates feelings in the real world and
23:02this is something that you know it's
23:03really important for all young people
23:05and adults frankly to learn like how can
23:08we be better better citizens in the
23:11world so just sort of an example of
23:13taking things to the next level I love
23:16that all right so Romy how can the many
23:18folks from different backgrounds who
23:21have different associations with the
23:24classroom how can they get involved how
23:26can they really help us bring these
23:28Technologies or this Innovation into the
23:32yeah I love this conversation and I
23:34think you're hearing a couple of
23:36consistent themes about learning in the
23:39future one is the importance of agency
23:42and personalization when we think about
23:44and you heard this from all of our
23:46speakers the kinds of experiences that
23:49are going to help young people find
23:51their purpose help them navigate this
23:54increasingly complex World they need to
23:57feel a sense of ownership over their
23:58education and they need to feel excited
24:01about learning we release new research
24:04last week with Gallup where so students
24:07are telling us that they want an
24:09experience that reflects the kind of
24:12personalization the kind of ownership
24:14this sense that they are not just sort
24:17of in a transaction but really building
24:21the skill sets and mindsets as Allison
24:23said that are going to help them be
24:27the other thing that's coming up is that
24:29you know the pandemic really kind of
24:31changed the conversation about where
24:33learning happens and what we experienced
24:37is that learning can happen anywhere
24:39obviously it needs to happen in school
24:42because that's where students are for
24:43most of the day and also many parents
24:46are thinking differently about what
24:48learning looks like learning on a
24:50Continuum different experiences that
24:53provide students with those
24:55opportunities to engage and explore and
24:59I think Minecraft is a great example
25:01whether it's being used in a classroom
25:03or outside of a classroom to build on
25:06top of the skill building and the
25:09mindset building that is happening and
25:12we know that Educators and families play
25:14a huge role in that and that you know
25:17the point of adoption for these
25:19Technologies is too late so one of the
25:22things we need to be doing is
25:24incorporating early on in the r d
25:26process and and I know this matters to
25:28everyone on the stage educator and
25:30family perspectives when it when it
25:32comes to the development of these
25:34products and I know you know the
25:36speakers will have great examples of how
25:38you're facilitating that kind of
25:40inclusive r d but as we think about
25:42really deploying these Solutions across
25:45districts across schools that feedback
25:48loop and strengthening that feedback
25:49loop is going to be more important than
25:51ever before that's right absolutely and
25:53Aruba maybe you can speak to that
25:54because maybe the the group is already
25:57picked up on this but there's a level of
25:58Hardware as well with VR right and so
26:01you not only have to get into these
26:03classrooms but you have to get Educators
26:05school boards to opt in through this new
26:07cost and so how are you doing that how
26:09are you working with these folks to not
26:11only open their aperture for the
26:14technology but also the cost and you
26:16know figuring out how you can roll this
26:17out really broadly so that if it is as
26:20game-changing as we think it can be that
26:23everyone has access yeah and I wanted to
26:25kind of piggyback on the role the
26:27teacher please do this is that I was a
26:31math director for many years and at nctm
26:33we've been talking about student-based
26:35learning problem learning discourse for
26:38decades so what's been really fun is
26:40that the role of the teacher isn't
26:41changing at all she's just now able to
26:44do it what was happening before is we
26:45were telling them to do discourse we
26:47were telling them to pbl and the tools
26:49that she had were not amenable to that
26:51so what's so great about going back to
26:53the question of adoption is when we go
26:54in we're like nothing is changing you as
26:57the great teacher you are launching an
26:58activation conversation you put your
27:00headset on and they start working
27:01teacher has a web-based dashboard so
27:03she's monitoring and providing feedback
27:05so when we share this pedagogy school
27:07boards are like that's exactly how we
27:09wanted to teach how do we do that oh by
27:11the way there's a hardware investment
27:12well how much well VR isn't for every
27:14day VR has a very specific role in the
27:17curriculum all the other resources that
27:19we have the the wonderful computer
27:21software that's been built and evolved
27:23over the past couple decades like that's
27:25great it just needs to be founded in
27:26some something that's really real world
27:28and visceral for kids so VR is only the
27:30first two days of a unit of study tells
27:32you why you're learning what you're
27:33learning it helps you derive a
27:35mathematical construct through a series
27:36of physical and tactile experiences and
27:39then once that's done those Cardiff
27:40headsets can go to the next classroom so
27:42we're deploying at about a 15 to 1 ratio
27:45at present as we create more and more
27:48content that might need to come down to
27:4910 and potentially five over time but
27:51that's really been the sell
27:53um and and so I don't know if that kind
27:55of gets to the heart of the question but
27:56we're selling a vision that is not new
27:59people have always wanted to teach this
28:01way we are now providing the hardware
28:02and that the hardware wasn't available
28:04five years ago so for those of you I've
28:06been I had a DK one I'm a big VR a VR
28:09Enthusiast if you guys wouldn't have
28:10been following a few years ago it was
28:11not Standalone there was a bulky
28:13umbilical cords these like big pieces of
28:15Hardware movement tracking was bad hand
28:17tracking wasn't their eye track it was
28:18uncomfortable at best right that's not
28:21the case anymore there's a psychological
28:23safety and a comfort that kids have kids
28:25most of them have their quests at home
28:26so when they come in and see that they
28:28see the quest and the Picos in schools I
28:30cannot tell you about a nickel for the
28:31number of times kids have said finally
28:33you guys are coming into the 21st
28:35century because they get to see the tech
28:37that they have at home in their
28:38classrooms definitely and I want to just
28:40touch on something that you've told me
28:42directly and you kind of touched on
28:43there but like when you were going to
28:45these schools maybe a misconception is
28:48that oh teachers don't want this but
28:49they're responding like I've been
28:51wanting this forever right like yeah
28:53this is and they're also the thing that
28:55I thought was interesting that you've
28:56mentioned is they are smart and there's
28:58this this maybe misconception around
29:00like oh can teachers handle VR can
29:03teachers handle AI yeah like absolutely
29:05well like it it's what happened with
29:07like many teachers who'd held lower
29:09expectations for their kids of like oh
29:11well like we don't know if the kids can
29:12do it same thing same thing with
29:13District leadership the number of times
29:15the superintendents have told me like my
29:16teachers can't do this I'm like put your
29:18teachers in front of me and I'm going to
29:19say one example and then um taibo but
29:23Humble ISD small 45 000 to student
29:27they got they were like you know only a
29:29small group my teachers are going to
29:30want to use this I said okay you know
29:32because I've seen this a million times
29:33happen now so they got 90 teachers in a
29:35room they'd only purchased for about 40
29:37teachers every single teacher put their
29:39hand up and said we want to do it and
29:41they were texting their friends so 170
29:43teachers opted into a program that only
29:45paid for 40 teachers and again it's
29:47underestimating what our teachers are
29:49capable capable of and what they want
29:51and as I mentioned like kids are digital
29:53native so when the VR headsets come out
29:55they're Off to the Races they know the
29:56UI so the teachers can focus on pettico
29:59she doesn't worry about teaching them
30:00the controllers and teaching them all
30:01the They the kids have that she gets to
30:04focus on the questioning the
30:05conversation the conversion on key
30:07mathematical notation conventions and
30:08outcomes and we must build with that in
30:10mind that if we make teachers the
30:12conduit for the tech we're setting
30:13ourselves up for failure
30:15something you also spoke to as the why
30:16now so Saul I'd love to get your take on
30:18this I mean maybe it's a little obvious
30:20with AI because the last year has been
30:22so crazy but at the same time
30:24tell me a little bit more about the why
30:25now and specifically what might this
30:28unlock like let's think a little more
30:29broadly about the next couple years and
30:31think past just like okay our kids will
30:33be using you know a chat bot yeah I mean
30:35to romy's uh opening remarks the
30:38situation is not good and a lot of
30:40people blame the pandemic but it was
30:41pretty bad before the pandemic uh you
30:43know people have looked at the nape
30:44results and I think it was Detroit had
30:46three percent of kids and eight I think
30:49they were 8th graders who were
30:50proficient in math three percent I was
30:52like wow the pandemic was pretty bad
30:54well before the pandemic was six percent
30:57it was still pretty bad
30:59um and this is why you see things like
31:02a majority of kids in the US who
31:04graduate from high school so you're
31:05already talking about you know the top I
31:07don't know 80 and then the subset of
31:09them that want to go to college then now
31:11you're talking about the top 40 or 50
31:12percent a majority of them when they get
31:14to their colleges they don't even Place
31:16into college algebra this is the first
31:18time that Mastery learning is being
31:20enforced and their colleges say wait
31:21you're not even ready to learn high
31:23school math yet you're going to take
31:24remedial math and that has all sorts of
31:26predictive you know that the kids aren't
31:27going to graduate they're going to have
31:28debt no degree et cetera et cetera and
31:30there's even been people say well maybe
31:32we shouldn't make algebra requirement
31:33I'm like this is like it's really like
31:35eighth grade level algebra that we're
31:36that that is considered a weeder class
31:39in our colleges uh and that's because
31:42the average American student learns
31:44about 0.6 to 0.7 grade levels per year
31:47which yeah after 12 years you're at a
31:49seventh grade level it it all uh so so
31:51that's that's the the Baseline and so
31:54this is something that obviously we've
31:55pre-ai were have been very focused on
31:58and you know we we have a lot of we have
32:01about 50 plus efficacy studies I think
32:02we're the most studied platform because
32:04we're just out there uh but they all say
32:06the same thing people put in if students
32:07put in 30 to 60 Minutes a week so not
32:10like a huge amount they're accelerating
32:1240 50 in some of our more let's call it
32:17kind of run some schools or more like
32:19sister organizations
32:21um where the students are putting closer
32:22to 30 minutes a day because they're
32:24learning at their zone of proximal
32:26development all of these ideals that ed
32:27schools have always been teaching the
32:29differentiated instruction Mastery
32:31learning zone of proximal development
32:32but teachers had no way of implementing
32:34it we actually haven't been sharing this
32:36because we almost think that the results
32:37are outlandish kids are getting about
32:39two grade levels a year like when you're
32:40when you do it when you do it
32:42consistently and so it's not just genius
32:44kids who are doing calculus in Middle
32:45School it can actually be maybe all kids
32:47and that's at the same time that there's
32:48kids down the street who by the time
32:51they're 19 they can't do Algebra much
32:53less calculus and it has nothing to do
32:55with I think any kind of innate ability
32:57so that's the Baseline uh generative AI
33:00you know there's always been this dream
33:02of uh you know that I always cite these
33:04science fiction books Diamond age where
33:06they favorite book ever oh that's your
33:08favorite very good well you're working
33:09on it too different where it's you know
33:13a future where it's a neo-victorian
33:16China where there's an app for educating
33:18a a member of nobility's granddaughter
33:21it's an AI based virtual reality app
33:25um that can educate a child and it gets
33:27pirated it gets in the hands of these
33:28200 000 orphan girls living in in barges
33:31and they just take over because they get
33:33such a good education and a lot of folks
33:35in the education world have always used
33:36the name of that app in the book which
33:38is the young ladies Illustrated primer
33:40that's kind of like the code word for
33:42the true north that I think a lot of us
33:43I mean mine I mean everything that all
33:45of us are doing are kind of somewhat
33:47inspired by things like that and when
33:50you know the generative AI capabilities
33:51not only did it throw a bomb into how
33:54our kids are going to cheat et cetera et
33:56cetera so that created a an urgency to
33:58figure out Solutions
34:00um but it also CR I think laid out part
34:03of the solution which we can now get
34:04much closer to the young ladies
34:06Illustrated Prime yeah by the way for
34:14technology is you know it's it's
34:16inevitable and it's natural for us yeah
34:18you know I want to say one thing that is
34:20one of my favorite books because
34:22um uh the authors making a case for one
34:25of the most important qualities that
34:26young girls should should have and if
34:29you want to take a guess what would that
34:30be if you're going to teach your young
34:31girls anything what would that be
34:35yeah the book makes the case for
34:37subversion and it's it's it's incredible
34:40changed my life I read it um when I was
34:42when I was a teenager before I went to
34:43went to college so thank you for
34:44referencing that that you're right
34:45that's exactly what we're all kind of
34:48Allison I want to oh go ahead I'll say
34:50one last really quick thing is you know
34:51we kind of focused on some of the bread
34:53and butter stuff but like there's things
34:55you can do with the Genera that is you
34:57know you can talk to simulations of
34:59historic characters fictional characters
35:01you know and you can only imagine it's
35:03coming very soon where it's not just
35:05chatting you're talking and then I think
35:07you start to merge these things with
35:09platforms like you're hearing and it
35:10becomes completely immersive you can go
35:12to ancient Rome you could talk to Caesar
35:14you could talk to Cleopatra
35:17um it's like the Holodeck on Star Trek
35:19and I I honestly didn't think that was
35:20going to happen in my lifetime I think
35:22that's going to happen in the next five
35:23years 100 and it's exciting or I think
35:25it is in the interest of time we only
35:27have a few minutes left so I'd love to
35:28just give you all the same prompt and
35:30we'll come we'll start with you Roman
35:31come back this direction I guess just
35:34any call to action again we have so many
35:36people in this audience we have some
35:38students we have some Educators we have
35:40a lot of parents a lot of people that
35:41care about the classroom and perhaps how
35:44technology can play a role and so just
35:46any any call to action for people if
35:48they want to help out if they want to
35:49learn more Romeo I'll start with you
35:52this North Star and really optimistic
35:55and bold Vision that you hear everyone
35:57on the stage talking about it's not a
35:59political one we want a generation of
36:01kids to be upwardly mobile and these are
36:04kids and families who have been trapped
36:07in generations of intergenerational
36:11and also you hear it is not a clear path
36:14to classroom 2050 so we have to be able
36:17to hold the optimism and hope and
36:20boldness and also realize that there's
36:23going to be a lot of fear in the system
36:25pushing against this so I would just
36:27come back to what I said at the
36:29beginning which is the importance of
36:31collaboration in tackling this kind of
36:34educational change is just we need it
36:38more than ever before we need to be
36:40working across lines of difference we
36:42need to be coming together around a
36:44common vision for what is possible for
36:47young people and that's just going to
36:49take a different kind of conversation
36:51and dialogue and as we do that as we
36:53talk about edtech continuing to come
36:56back to the cultural and structural
36:58changes in education which means just
37:01again continuing to think about how we
37:04organize schools think about the choices
37:06we're giving to families and making the
37:08job of teaching easier and more
37:10sustainable for teachers thank you
37:13okay so from a gaming perspective I
37:15talked to a lot of parents who are like
37:17yeah my kids love Minecraft I don't know
37:19what they do in there but I know it's
37:20really really lots of creativity so my
37:23call to action would be to play the game
37:26with your kids or if you can't play the
37:29game with your kids sit beside them
37:30while they play because in Minecraft
37:33they're like figuring out who they are
37:35as a human like if they're the person
37:37playing with their friends who's
37:39organizing the mission
37:41um maybe they're going to grow up to be
37:43a leader or a manager if they're the
37:45person who's designing like this
37:47incredible Castle maybe they'll grow up
37:49to have a world in design or urban
37:52planning or maybe they're the person
37:54that builds all the crazy machines with
37:56redstone so maybe they're going to be an
37:58electrical engineer or they're gonna you
38:00know go into science in some way and so
38:03it's a great way for you to get to know
38:04your kids on sort of a deeper level and
38:07then help them see the things that maybe
38:08they don't see about themselves amazing
38:11we've played with all of the above
38:12that's the best way to learn it yeah and
38:14don't let fear get in the way of trying
38:16something out because if we do that all
38:18that's going to happen is all of our
38:19kids are going to benefit from all of
38:20this I'm not worried about them but then
38:21the other kids are not and then that's
38:23going to create a bigger divide thank
38:25you Anna Rupa I'll be brief um I know
38:27this panel is called the classroom of
38:282050 but I actually want to be very
38:30clear it's a classroom of 2023. it's
38:32happening right now like it's go to a
38:35school near you all of us have deployed
38:37to hundreds of school systems I mean
38:39people who have been here for way longer
38:40than I have millions and millions of
38:44um just wanted to like end with that
38:45that the Technologies here that the
38:46pedagogy is here the teacher training is
38:48here we just now need to put our heads
38:49down and execute and if I were to have a
38:52last word the thing that I've seen
38:53missing in school districts I've worked
38:54across many many of them I have very
38:56large teams we met we were missing
38:58execution and that's that everything is
39:01now there pieces are there we still need
39:02to like collaborate and execute together
39:04thank you thank you and thank you so
39:06much everyone for listening
39:09thanks for listening to the a16z podcast
39:12if you like this episode don't forget to
39:14subscribe here on YouTube to get our
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